Clocks in Europe are to be turned back an hour from “daylight-shifting” time to standard time on Sunday October 29. You’re supposed to do it at 2 AM on Sunday! So do it before going to bed on Saturday.
This return to approximately natural Sun time is delayed in America to Sunday November 5.
From now until next March, we cease pretending that it’s 12 noon, the middle of the day, when the Sun has yet an hour to go to reach the meridian; similarly that it’s 7 when it’s really 6, and so on.
Musical language department
Arion, the musician rescued by a dolphin, played the kithara. This Greek word is ancestral to guitar, zither, and many other forms in English and other languages, applied to many varieties of stringed instruments.
Yet: the famous instrument of classical Indian music is the sitar. This Hindi word is derived from Persian, in which si (or se; the vowel is distinct from the long close vowel in sî, “thirty”) means “three,” and tar means “string.”
This can hardly be a coincidence. But it seems a mystery that ancient Greek got a word so early from Persia or India, and that the first consonant changed from s to k.
One of the tunes that run through my head is “Se vuol ballare” in Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro.” Figaro says (in the Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte) that if the contino, the “little count,” his employer Count Almaviva, wants to dance – that is, tries to exercise his supposed right of sleeping with Figaro’s bride Susanna – then “Il chitarrino le suonerò” – “I’ll play the little guitar for you.” Figaro will be the one who calls the tune and outwits the count.
Skewed language department
Political leaders are compelled to express hope for less bloodshed in Israel and Gaza, which involves calling for a “ceasefire” or a “pause.” Whichever of these two words they use, they meet with “deep anger” from one side or the other. Depending on which word, they are anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim, and Jewish or Muslim members of their parties threaten to resign.
__________
This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the suays.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version. Or you can click ‘Refresh’ to get the latest version.
studied classics at university, way back, and have always been amazed at what it taught me about how to learn. Your posts about anything under says always pique an interest, thank you!